The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its annual data this month, which shows that consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023. This is a 14% increase (more than $1 billion) over reported losses in 2022 and the highest amount ever reported to the FTC.
Consumers reported losing more money to investment scams ($4.6 billion, which is a 21% increase from 2022) than any other category. The second highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams, with reported losses of $2.7 billion. In 2023, consumers reported losing more money to bank transfers and cryptocurrency than any other methods combined.
The FTC received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers in 2023, nearly the same number as in 2022. The most commonly reported scam category was imposter scams, which saw significant increases in reports of both business and government impersonators. Online shopping issues were the second most reported fraud, followed by prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries, investment-related reports, and business and job opportunity scams.
Email was the most common method of contact (24%) in 2023 for fraud reports, followed by phone calls, and text messages (which was the top reported method in 2022).
In 2023, the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network received a total of 5.4 million reports. Of these reports, 2.6 million were fraud-related, and more than one million reports consisted of identity theft and other compliant reports related to problems with credit bureaus, banks, and lenders. This is a significant increase over more than two decades. In 2001, there were only 326,000 reports of fraud, identity theft, and other reports made to the FTC. California had the largest number of reports (525,000) filed in 2023, though reports by state per 100,000 population indicated that Georgia, Florida, and Nevada were ranked top three for both identity theft reports and fraud and other reports.
The FTC data tracks consistently with the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) data provided by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). In 2023, check fraud was the number one reported SAR category, and 9.5% of SARs filed in 2023 referenced check fraud. Other reported fraud categories found in SAR filings included:
- Credit/debit cards
- Identity theft
- Counterfeit instruments
- ACH
- Wire
- Consumer loan fraud
SARs reporting also found that elder financial exploitation increased to more than 1.6% of all SAR filings made in 2023.
Given this data, it is more important than ever to protect against and prepare your organization to combat fraud.
Our experienced professionals at FORVIS are here to help you best manage risk and stay ahead of potential threats. Contact us for more information.